


Breaking Point

by missrhondalee



Category: Laverne & Shirley (TV)
Genre: (self harm as taking pills), Addiction, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, please also check notes before reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-22 11:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30037767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missrhondalee/pseuds/missrhondalee
Summary: Laverne’s spiraling down a dangerous path of self destruction. Will Carmine be able to save her or will it be too late?
Relationships: Laverne DeFazio/Carmine Ragusa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction, nothing more. If the theme triggers you, please do not read further.

She turned the doorknob slowly grateful that Carmine never locked his door. Why would he anyway? He could clearly defend himself if faced with a burglar. Not that he had anything worth stealing these days. Laverne made a face as she heard the door's hinges squeak. So much for being quiet and she knew she would definitely ruin her entrance when she accidentally knocked over some cheap statuette on Carmine's end table as she staggered inside the apartment.

She gasped loudly, “Crap.”

Carmine invited her to come over tonight before he had to go to work this morning so she was just taking him up on his offer. He did invite her...for dinner which was six hours ago.

It was approximately one in the morning now and Carmine stopped expecting her hours ago. Actually, deep down, he's known all along she most likely wouldn't show but still hoped she would and if he were honest, he was running out of ideas on how to help her at this point. Shirley leaving affected all of them but it had taken a huge toll on Laverne's life. Not in the beginning though. At first Laverne had tried to not only be happy for her friend, although she was sourly bitter that she couldn't even get a proper goodbye after all these years, but also tried to look on the bright side of things. She could turn her life around too. Okay, she wasn't quite ready to tie the knot yet but if her friend could make her dreams come true, why couldn't she? Plus two weeks prior to Shirley's leaving, they'd got laid off from Bardwell's department store so a new beginning all around. She'd get a new job, start over and accomplish her own goals.

The optimism started running out however, when Laverne realized finding a high paying job, so she could afford to pay the rent and the bills now that Shirley was gone she needed a much higher salary to afford it all, twice of what she used to make at Bardwells plus a bit more for food and living decently, was harder than she'd anticipated because they all required college degrees and important skills and she had neither. Therefore the only jobs she could get without those obstacles in her way were shady ones where she was required to take her clothes off. Now she knew damn well she would never see the light of day again if she took one of these jobs because Frank would literally kill her. In a normal time, her Pop would have let her work at Cowboy Bill's until something better would come along but the business wasn't doing as good as it used to and he couldn't afford to hire more staff and although she was his daughter, it wouldn't be fair to his loyal employees if he were to ask one of them to give up their job so his daughter could have one. They too, had rent and bills to pay. Besides, he already had enough on his plate with his problems with Edna. Their marriage was already on the rocks when Shirley was still here but ever since she left, things took a turn for the worse around here for the DeFazios. Frank's relationship with his wife hung by a thread until Edna finally left him. Ironically, with just a note too last week.

Knowing her Pop already had to deal with all the shit going on in his personal life, Laverne didn't want to burden him with her own problems too so she pretended she was doing fine whenever she was around her father. Her friends knew the truth though. She wasn't doing fine, far from it. She's been jobless for three months and although she got unemployment money from the state, it only covered half of the expenses. Shirley wasn't here anymore and neither was her half of the money. The bills were starting to pile up and last week she failed to pay her rent. Instead of spending the money she'd receive accordingly, Laverne would end up buying useless crap with it. She missed her best friend and the junk was a way to fill the void and it worked..to some extent.

The unpaid bills and other important things she failed to tend to caught up with her and now she was in trouble financially. All the accumulated stress, her debts, her family literally falling apart and Shirley abandoning her was getting too hard to cope on her own but too ashamed to ask her friends for help, Laverne instead isolated herself and as cliche as it was turned to alcohol. Now she wasn't an actual alcoholic it was only when it was getting too much to handle. She knew it wasn't good but it was the only thing she found that would calm her nerves and relax her and after a few weeks, she was even getting used to the hangovers.

It didn't take long for her friends to notice the changes in her behavior. They started getting concerned when Rhonda noticed the empty beer cans in the garbage one morning as she was taking out the trash. When she confronted Laverne about it she just said they weren't hers. Rhonda believed her at first until she literally saw Laverne the following day walk across the street to dump her garbage in the neighbor's trashcans from her bedroom window. She didn't bother checking what was in the bag, what other reason would Laverne have to put her garbage elsewhere? Literally a day after she'd mentioned it? She didn't confront her again but just studied her behavior instead and Rhonda knew she was right, that she wasn't hallucinating things at all when Carmine brought it up to her that Laverne may have a drinking problem. Now he never caught her actually drinking something but she was clumsier than usual and was literally swaying sometimes when he talked to her. Once he even caught her waiting for something to cook only to realize she'd forgotten to turn the oven on altogether.

Every time he or Rhonda would bring up the subject, she would deny it or when she wouldn't, Laverne just told them they were dramatizing things, that she had it under control. Trying to be there for her, they offered their assistance with perhaps helping her find a job or even lending her some money even though they were struggling themselves. Hell, even Squiggy tried helping her with some spare food now and then. But the more they were trying to help, the more Laverne felt ashamed of herself so instead of letting them in, she would shut them out. She was isolating herself as much as possible, which her father hadn't even noticed because he was too preoccupied with his failed marriage, and Laverne skipping on dinner tonight was just another example of many. The crashing sound of the statuette breaking woke Carmine from his sleep and although he could defend himself his heart was racing. Someone breaking into your home was _always_ scary.

He managed to get out of bed quickly only to recognize his friend standing near the door even before turning on the lights. “Laverne? Jesus. You scared the crap out of me. Do you know what time it is?”

“I broke your thingy. Sorry.” Carmine brought a hand to his face as he watched her trying to miserably fix it. “It's okay. Just leave it. What are you doing here?”

“You invited me over.” she reminded him.

“Laverne, I invited you to dinner at seven. It's gotta be one a.m!”

Carmine knew she was intoxicated again and she avoided his gaze when he mentioned it. He didn't have the patience to walk on eggshells around her this time. After all, she did stand him up and then disrupted his sleep.

“How long are you going to keep this up?”

Carmine sighed loudly realizing again that she hadn't kept her word. He'd honestly thought after last week's incident it would have scared her enough to pull herself together but apparently not. Rhonda was just returning some candles she'd borrowed, which was just an excuse to check up on Laverne which was something she and the guys put into place because Laverne refused their help when offered directly to her, when she found Laverne passed out on her staircase. Laverne hadn't been able to make it to her bedroom the night before. Which happened to be the same night Frank told her about Edna leaving him. Panic had run through Rhonda's body as she'd hurried to her side. She had to shake her for a solid minute before Laverne finally opened her eyes. She'd honestly thought she might be dead and was about to dial 911 but called Carmine instead when she started waking up.

Despite assuring them countless times that it had been an accident, saying something about missing a step that resulted in twisting her ankle and thus taking pills for the pain, that she forgot she wasn't supposed to take these if she had been drinking, they didn't believe her at all. They actually suspected Laverne didn't take the news of Edna's leaving well and ended up taking those pills because drinking wasn't enough to make the pain go away this time.

Laverne rolled her eyes, why did he have to be so serious? “I had one..” she tried to remember but her memory was kinda fuzzy now, “..two. Whatever.” she whined, “It's not a big deal. Who are you, the drinking police?”

“I'm calling Frank. This has to stop. You keep lying to us-”

Laverne scoffed watching him trying to locate his phone. “What, are you serious? I'm thirty years old. I'm way above the legal drinking age in this state. Hell, in all North America!”

Carmine finally found it underneath a pile of dirty clothes. “This isn't only about now and you know it.” he looked at her but again, she wouldn't meet his eyes because she could feel how disappointed in her Carmine was and Laverne knew she'd start crying if she looked at him because it made her feel like shit.

“I would let it slide if it was the first time but we both know it is far from it. Rhonda and I stopped counting the times we've seen you tipsy or drunk enough you can barely stand up. You're so ungrateful. You don't appreciate all the things we've been trying to do for you, all the time we spend trying to cheer you up and not only that, you insult us on top of it.” if not verbally, by standing them up like she did Carmine tonight.

“Squiggy told us about you being rude to him the other night when he tried to help-” that had happened the night before the incident when she was struggling to carry grocery bags on her way home. Although she barely left her house anymore, she still had to eat. Carmine wasn't usually one to take Squiggy's side, because let's face it, his personality wasn't the greatest but in this case he sided with him one hundred percent.

“It was the other way around. He was mean to me-”

“He was not. He just said things you didn't want to hear and you not only insulted him telling him among other things to mind his own business but you shoved him! He was just trying to help. Like we all are.” Squiggy was known for his brutal honesty and that kinda clashed with her denial about the entire situation.

Laverne tried defending herself, saying he didn't hear her side of the story. “You weren't there-”

“Laverne, I'm serious. This has to stop. You're not leaving me much of a choice. Every time we try to help, you shut us out.”

“But I don't need help. I'm fine!” she pleaded. “What's with you people? I can't have a drink now and then without it being a problem, when did you all become so boring?”

“A drink now and then is fine but this,” he gestured toward her making her feel even worse about herself, “sure as hell isn't. You need help. Since we can't get through to you, hopefully Frank will.”

“It's not as serious as you guys make it seem-”

Her denial was so unreal it quite frankly terrified him at this point. “Really? What about last week, you remember that?”

Laverne whined burying her face in her hands and then shook her head. Carmine lecturing her about this was the absolute worst. She now realized she'd gone too far by standing him up tonight and he'd lost his patience with her now. Even the nicest people had their limits and Carmine reached his. “Oh, my god. Are we really talking about this now?”

“Yes, because you don't seem to fully comprehend how fucking serious this is, Laverne!”

He was really pissed at her for the constant stress she's been putting him through on top of his own personal problems. “Rhonda found you on the steps in your apartment. She had to shake you for an entire minute before you woke up!”

“It was an accident.” Laverne repeated the same thing she said the other day, “I told you guys that I hurt my ankle and I forgot I wasn't supposed to take those painkillers.”

“You forgot.” he shook his head scoffing, “That's convenient.”

“I swear I didn't mean to harm myself.” although she was looking straight at him now, the first time since she got here which would indicate that she may be telling the truth, she's been lying so much he was losing it and didn't believe her.

“You could have died!” Carmine snapped now, “You're lying Laverne, I know it wasn't an accident. You wanted this to happen.”

“I didn't want to die. Now that's cra-”

“Maybe not. But you wanted to stop hurting. You wanted the pain to stop. What if Frank would have found you lying there? Have you thought of that?” it had been traumatizing enough for her friends. Frank would have had a heart attack or worse, even more after Edna leaving him the day before. “You didn't, even for a second, think about how this would affect us.”

Laverne was getting upset and agitated now because Carmine wasn't being his kind and patient self anymore. “I'm sorry about tonight but you don't have to lecture-”

“Yes, I do because I care about you! We all do.” he glared at her, “You promised us you'd quit that nonsense last week.” and Carmine truly felt like a fool for believing her lies and her lower lip trembled when she heard the word selfish coming out of his mouth.

“Do you remember Shirley's brother? How does it feel to be just like him?” they all remembered how badly he used to treat Shirley when all she was doing was trying to help.

“Hey. That's crazy talk. I ain't no alcoholic passing out in bars. I don't even leave my house.” she tried explaining that she wasn't like Bobby Feeney at all but he wouldn't hear any of it.

“You know what? Keep finding excuses. You're so good at it. But trust me your luck's gonna run out at some point and one of these days, sooner than you think, we won't be there to help you anymore, Laverne.” Laverne felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes at the sound of these words because she knew Carmine was dead serious. “You're going to go out after a few drinks and someone will take advantage of you or worse and it'll be too late.”

Carmine took a deep breath trying not to imagine the worst but failed miserably even more when she was crying now. This was really hurting him but unlike her he wouldn't let his emotions take over. “You're leaving me no choice. I have to let your father know.”

Laverne panicked when Carmine started dialing Frank's number. So much that she tried getting the receiver from him. “No! You can't do that.” she cried begging him not to go through with it. “You can't tell my Pop. I'm begging you, Carmine. Please. He counts on me. He's got enough problems. I can't be one of them-”

Carmine paused looking at her. She was so desperate she was shaking uncontrollably. He knew if there was one thing she didn't want was her father to not only find out about her drinking problem but most importantly, she didn't want Frank to be disappointed in her. Because that truly was the worst feeling in the world, knowing you let down the people that love you the most. Using the very last ounce of patience left inside him, Carmine threw the phone back onto the pile of clothes. He then pointed a finger at her when she begged him not to tell her father again.

“I won't say anything...this time.” he began as she whimpered, ”but you better pull yourself together. I mean it.” he threatened now, “This is your last chance. If I, Rhonda or Squig catches you again, that's it and no amount of crying and begging will make a difference. Do I make myself clear?”

Although he wasn't yelling anymore, she nodded rapidly trying to avoid eye contact because he was glaring at her so hard she was beyond terrified.

There was a long, interminable pause where she continued crying while he tried calming himself down. Laverne tried apologizing for standing him up again to try and smooth things over between them but he told her to forget it. Although knowing he was angry with her, she still found the courage to ask if she could stay with him tonight. He doubted he'd get any sleep after all of this but at least if she was here he would know she would be safe.

Once Carmine agreed to let her use his bathroom, he wished her good night and returned to his bed. His head had barely touched the pillow that he heard clattering sounds of Laverne knocking things over. Jesus fucking Christ. Was this day ever going to end? Trying to block the sounds with his mind, Carmine closed his eyes but it was only when he heard footsteps getting closer five minutes later that he understood the universe wasn't done testing him tonight. After taking her shoes and clothes off she climbed into bed with him. “Laverne, what are you doing?”

“You're mad at me.”

He took a deep breath, “I'm not.” now that wasn't true but he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep now. “Why are you in my bed? Did you take your clothes off too?” although the light was turned off, he distinguished the silk white slip she had on.

“You said I could sleep here tonight. Didn't you?”

“Laverne, I meant on the sofa. I didn't realize I had to clarify that. You can't be here. Come on.”

Despite asking her to leave, she did no such thing. Instead she scooted over to his side of the bed so much that they felt each other's breaths. She was invading his privacy now and Carmine moved slightly so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Laverne felt a throbbing between her legs as his hand accidentally brushed against her slip the slight brush of his body against hers was enough to send jolts of excitement through her body. The alcohol she'd consumed combined with the closeness of their bodies touching one another and her severe loneliness caused Laverne to be all over him within a second. She was kissing and fondling him urging Carmine to return the affection she desperately craved.

He managed to turn on the light on, “Laverne-” Carmine panted now, not only was he not expecting this but he was only human and his last sexual, physical contact was just a distant memory now. “We can't do this. Now come on, get out of my bed.”

“Why not? You're single too. Aren't you?”

“That's not the point. You're not thinking straight.”

The throbbing between her legs intensified to the point where Laverne couldn't resist anymore. Pulling her slip down, she urged him to suck on her breasts while she began pleasuring herself. “Just this one time. Please.” she begged him so much that she pulled down his underwear and he managed to stop her before she could get her hand around him. “What the fuck!”

After quickly pulling his underwear back up, he grasped her arm and Laverne groaned in pain as he tightened the grip then burst into tears when he shoved her. “Enough! Stop it!” Carmine yelled now getting off the bed. If he'd already terrified her earlier it was nothing compared to this. “Have you completely lost your mind? What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Carmine panted as he watched Laverne crying so hard she had trouble breathing now and her hands shook violently as she pulled up her slip. Was this what they meant by hitting rock bottom? Because Laverne knew she couldn't possibly sink any lower than this. Carmine brought a shaking hand to his mouth, feeling his heart sink as he watched his best friend fall apart right in front of him.

After the longest pause, Laverne managed to apologize to him quietly before burying her face in her hands. Carmine climbed back onto the bed and she sobbed harder as he pulled her into his arms.

“I'm lonely.”

“I know you are.” of course she was, she was doing the one thing she shouldn't which was isolating herself. “You keep pushing us away. You won't let us in.”

She managed to explain she was ashamed of herself, felt like a total failure and then added that it will never get better for her. At least that was what Carmine thought she said because the slurring as well as the intense crying made it difficult to understand every word. “It _will_ get better. I promise but for it to happen, you've got to stop with the drinking once and for all. Do you hear me?”

His hands cupped her face, “Because trust me, the next guy he won't be your friend, Laverne. If you keep this up you _will_ get hurt. Is what I'm saying _finally_ getting through to you or not?”

She nodded quickly and Carmine was relieved that she was finally listening to him because this time he knew she was being truthful with him. She wasn't lying anymore and now Laverne also told him about her financial problems. About not paying her rent or even the bills piling up. “I don't have any money.”

“I blew what I had on all this junk-”

“It's okay. We'll figure it out and try to help as much as we possibly can. Hell, I'll even convince Squig to chip in.” that might take some time because if Carmine finally lost his patience tonight, Squiggy's started wearing thin quite a while ago even more after the other day when she shoved him. “You may have to apologize to him again though.”

Apologizing to Squiggy was more than fine, even if it probably meant she would have to do something disgusting to make up for mistreating him but Frank knowing about this wasn't at all. “You can't tell my Pop.” she sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “Please.”

“Tell you what. I won't tell him as long as you let us help you. If you don't then I will. What do you say? Does that sound like a fair deal to you?”

Once she agreed, he pulled her into his arms again and let her cry. When Laverne was calming down, he suggested she spend the night at Rhonda's.

“I'm sure she won't mind.” hopefully she didn't have a guest spending the night. God knows what was going on with her love life, all Carmine knew about it was that she had a mirror above her bed that he sometimes naughtily thought about once in a while.

He helped her get off the bed. “Are you going to tell anyone about this?” and by 'this' she meant what just occurred between them minutes earlier. Which had to be one of the most humiliating moments she'd experienced. That debutante ball debacle was nothing compared to this.

“No. Come on,” he scooped her clothes off the floor and handed them back to her. “put your clothes on and I'll take you to Rhonda's.”

She wasn't doing it because she wanted to stay with him and Laverne told him that. “I don't think that's such a good idea. At least tonight it isn't anymore.”

“Please.”

Carmine bit on his lower lip then pointed at her, “You promise to behave yourself?”

Nodding quickly, Laverne said she would. She then climbed onto the mattress and started getting ready to sleep because if Carmine was exhausted she was so much more especially after all that crying. “Uh huh. I don't think so.” he shook his head and pointed toward the sofa. Instead of making a scene, which he was more than grateful she didn't do, Laverne reluctantly got up whining as she did so. She was so tired even the simplest movement required an effort at this point. Her voice barely audible, she wished him good night and Carmine watched her stagger over to the sofa. Her head had barely touched the pillow that she was already asleep.

His eyelids were getting heavier now knowing this night was finally coming to an end. Carmine turned the light off and eagerly returned to his bed for a well deserved sleep knowing that things could only get better from here.


End file.
